French Ready to Help Out Britannia in Her Hour of Need

[webfarmer]

Curiouser and curiouser.  I wonder if the EDF will provide all the funding too.  Consider that the current Areva-Siemans fiasco in Finland is an EPR reactor.

EDF Plans Four Nuclear Plants in UK, First by 2017 - Guardian (UK) - 10 Jan 08

"France's EDF  plans to build four nuclear power plants in Britain, the world's leading nuclear power station operator said on Thursday. 'EDF will now step up its plans to take part in building a series of four new nuclear plants in the UK, using EPR technology, with the first one completed by the end of 2017,' the company said in a statement following the UK government's decision to allow more plants to be built."

Comments

[tefl-on-sarah.livejournal.com]

My understanding is that the British taxpayer would be footing the bill.

[webfarmer.livejournal.com]

Even it if's "100% private" there seems to be a significant portion of the cost that will be picked up by the government. That's always been the problem with nuclear. Without state support, it wouldn't exist little less experience a "renaissance".

What's hilarious is that the "free market" politicians are often the most enthusiastic about dumping money into it to keep it propped up. Maybe one too many Heinlein atomic stories when they were younger.

This book "Light Water" I've been reading covers the early history of both the American and European efforts and there are a lot of deja vu moments in their. You know what they say about people who forget their history and repeating things.